DAYLILY RUST & PREVENTION

Some years ago if I was asked, if I knew of any Daylily problem diseases that affected daylilies, I would have answered, daylilies don’t have many pests and diseases. Daylilies are still pest and disease free depending upon where you live. Daylilies can have many different diseases like daylily crown rot, daylily spring sickness, daylily leaf streak, daylily root rot, daylily streak, daylily mustard seed fungus and daylily scape blasting. We will have a look at all these daylily diseases, but everybody talks about daylily rust the most this seems to be the biggest concern. We will have a closer look into daylily rust: An emerging and alarming daylily plant disease with frequently asked questions and answers.

Where is Daylily Rust on Plants?

Daylily rust grows and usually appears on the leaves of daylily plants. First of all, the daylily rust will start to appear on the upper part of the surfaces of the leaves. Eventually, this rust will continue to expand and even reach the lower surfaces of the entire leaves once not treated immediately.

What Does Daylily Rust Look Like?

Daylily rust actually starts as small spots having a noticeable yellow color which can be easily found on the surface of the leaves. These small spots, once expanding, can further appear as pustules or elevated round spots on the leaves. Colors may range from being plain yellow at the beginning to light orange and even rust like brown daylily leaves as the condition becomes greatly severe.

What Happens To Plants With Daylily Rust?

The initial effect of the daylily rust to plants is the damage in their physical appearance. The plain green appearance of the leaves of the plant will eventually turn into rusty yellow. Aside from the appearance, the integrity of the leaves will be affected by daylily rust as well. Later on, if the damage is allowed to remain in the plant, death can be the result.

Where Did Daylily Rust Come From?

Daylily rust is actually caused by a specific fungus known as the Puccinia hemerocallidis. The disease is spread to other types of plants by means of spores. This plant disease is actually evident in different parts of the world like Taiwan, Korea, China, Russia and even Japan. Much to the surprise of experts, this plant disease has even reached the farther parts of the world like United States, Canada and Australia.

What Temperatures Does Daylily Rust Live In?

Daylily rust is actually spread by means of spores and in order for these to effectively grow they should remain at appropriate temperatures. The daylily rust actually requires warm temperatures and highly humid environment. Poor circulation can also support the growth of these spores. A temperature of about 15 to 30 Celsius along with 100% humidity creates a very conducive environment for the spores to quickly grow and germinate. Spore germination can occur in just several hours with just the right temperature, humidity and watering conditions. Daylily spores are know to survive for at least a month under normal conditions.

The Life Cycle of Daylily Rust

Most people are not really aware of how the daylily rust actually forms on the plants. You should be aware of how these daylily diseases develop so that you could learn how you can prevent it from occuring. The Daylily Rust is also known as the Puccinia hemerocallidis and there are several stages that it needs to undergo before it could completely take over the entire daylily plant and be finally called rust. Not all the life cycle of the Puccinia hemerocallidis takes place on the Daylilies. Some needs to be in another type of Asian plant which is known as the Patrinia. The Patrinia is also considered as a perennial plant just like the Daylilies.

Looking Into The Life Cycle

First of all, the Daylily Rust actually produces two kinds of spores. One is the urediospore while the other is the teliospore. These spores serve as the basic units which are primarily responsible for reproduction. This is the equivalent of seeds in plants. The spores have the ability to grow and eventually germinate. The infection by the urediospore is known to be an asexual type of reproduction. The sexual type of reproduction of the spores actually takes place through the other Asian perennial plant which is known as the Patrinia. If the cycle is completed in both the Daylilies and the Patrinia, the rust will completely and continuously develop.

The Spores

The urediospore, also known as the summer spores or repeating spores, which is usually from the Daylily and the aeciospore which is usually from the Patrinia starts forming on one leaf of the plant. Eventually, this will grow and slowly eat the entire leaf where it initially landed. The spores primarily feed through the mycelium of the leaves and a huge amount of the spores eventually form in the entire leaf later on. From the huge amount of spores form, the wind eventually acts as the transport method as they carry the spores from one leaf to another and spreading them to the entire plant.

Before this life cycle can take place successfully, the environment including the temperature and other factors should be set properly. The urediospore strictly infect only the Daylilies which means that they are not capable of infecting the Patrinia.

At the end of the season, aside from the urediospore and the aeciospores, the rust is also capable of producing another type of rust which is known as the teliospore. This is also called as the winter spores because they are capable of resisting colder temperatures as compared to the other spores. They are also known to be stronger spores. These spores have dark spots or areas aside from the usual orange color, which makes them very distinct.

These are some of the most essential information that you need to know about the life cycle of the Daylily Rust. They generally start as spores and eventually grow in numbers and take over not only the leaves but also the other parts of the plant.

How to Prevent and get rid of Daylily Rust?

The only parts of the daylily that needs treatment for daylily rust disease is the leaves and scapes as the daylily rust does not enter the crown or the roots. Daylily rust is only found in the oldest leaves of the daylily plant. At the first signs of rust you need to treat the daylily rust, you also need to cut the plant down to the crown, at this stage of the procedure the daylily plant will not have any rust when the fan is cut off at crown level, remove any outer old leaves that have gone yellow or brown as well. Once this is done the daylily plant is free of daylily rust this means you have to look after the daylily plant and stop the daylily from getting rust again not forgetting after daylily rust leaves are trimmed, to sanitise secateurs or pruners, with a household bleach solution, dilute household bleach 1 quarter cup bleach to 1 bucket of water to disinfect pruning equipment after each plant is pruned.

To take care of the daylily and prevent and control daylily rust disease you need to choose and treat your plant with a fungicide that is either systemic which treats the plant internally or a non-systemic fungicide which stops the fungus infection from entering the plant.

To stop daylily rust you have to use the appropriate chemical to prevent, control and treat your daylilies from rust.

Prevent Daylily Rust

By using systemic and non-systemic fungicides, you can effectively prevent and control the existence of daylily rust disease on the daylily leaves by proper monitoring your daylily plants. Daylily rust is a problem fungus disease with a complicated way of existence so you should really see to it that you examine your plants regularly for every sign of the daylily rust disease. Once early signs of daylily rust are found, you should act immediately by managing and applying different fungicides to the plants affected with daylily rust as soon as it is noticed. Daylily rust can be controlled by treating your daylilies this means by cutting all your daylily plants down to the crown, don’t do this to often as it will weaken the plant (The crown is the white area between the leaves and the roots) stripping a few of the outer layers of leaves as well and bagging the rusty leaves and either burn or bury the leaves or putting the rust diseased leaves in a black plastic bag out in the hot sun for a few weeks this will kill or distroy the rust spores too, then once the daylily plant starts to grow protecting the new leaves, every seven to fourteen days, you need to spray the whole plant both sides of the leaves with (Yates Mancozeb plus) sulphur based fungicide and alternative use of (Yates fungus fighter) a copper based fungicide using the right measurements as indicated on the packet. The reason for the alternate use of the two different based fungicides is so that the plant doesn’t get used to the one based fungicide. Always use the fungicide 24 hours before rain or watering, this should put a film on the leaves and hopefully prevent daylily rust from entering the leaves, but you have to keep spraying the fungicide every seven to fourteen days. This fungicide is a non-systemic fungicide which does not penetrate into the plant tissue it just protects the daylily plant from fungus rust infection. This is how the non-systemic fungicide works.

There is another way to treat daylily rust and that is to get rid of daylily rust, for this treatment you can use a systemic fungicide these fungicides work differently to a non-systemic fungicides they work by being absorbed into the leaves and should manage and control the fungus rust internally, the systemic fungicide to buy are Trifoline, Rose Shield, Tilt and Amistar Extra and follow the directions on the labels, these products are best alternated for best control.

It is best to use one of the sytemetic fungicides with the non-systemic fungicides together, some of these fungicides may need to be used with a wetting agent so that the products stick to the plant, it is best if you see your local agronomist about the wetting agents when you buy these products. You should also make sure that watering conditions are properly controlled to prevent the growth and germination of rust spores by watering your daylily plants early mornings and not in the evenings. I know we can’t control the weather but this is another way to help prevent daylily rust. Daylily rust spots looks very unsightly if it gets a hold on your plants. It is said if you experience hard frosts this will kill daylily rust. To eliminate the daylily rust weather temperatures must be zero degrees or colder, unless the spores overwinter in protected areas near and around the plant. But remember it only takes one spore spread by wind to land on your daylily plant other times of the year and you are back with daylily rust. Alternatively you can look for daylily rust resistant daylilies, extensive research is in progress to identify daylily rust resistant daylilies; some daylily varieties show more resistance to daylily rust than other cultivars whereby some daylily plants are more prone to daylily rust.

With all this information, your question, “How to prevent and get rid of daylily rust” will now be given the best answers possible.